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This chapter explores the consequences of the legal positivism which regards law as created by social sources so that the existence and content of legal systems can be determined on the basis of social fact without resort to moral argument. It defends the source-based conception of law from accusations of incoherence and explains why and in what sense all legal systems contain gaps calling for the exercise of discretion and for reliance on extra-legal considerations by courts in certain cases.

This chapter explores the consequences of the legal positivism which regards law as created by social sources so that the existence and content of legal systems can be determined on the basis of social fact without resort to moral argument. It defends the source-based conception of law from accusations of incoherence and explains why and in what sense all legal systems contain gaps calling for the exercise of discretion and for reliance on extra-legal considerations by courts in certain cases.